The YouTube video of Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Eisner hitting
a Danish provocateur “peace activist” with the butt of his gun has
become world news. To get a better perspective on the true importance
of this “affair,” one should compare it with the conduct of soldiers
elsewhere in the world.

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The best point of reference is the Peacekeeping Forces of the United
Nations. This organization issued the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the non-initiated would expect its soldiers to be “a light
unto the nations.”

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In Haiti in 2005, UN peacekeeping troops killed 23 people, including
children, in a poor area of Port au Prince. Doctors without Borders
reported that they had treated 27 people for gunshot wounds - around
20 of them were women under the age of 18. In December 2007, more
than 100 UN soldiers from Sri Lanka were deported under charges of
sexual abuse of underage girls.

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A video was also released showing four Uruguayan troops in Haiti
laughing while allegedly raping an 18 year old Haitian boy. Two
Pakistani peacekeepers were recently sentenced for raping a 14 year
old Haitian boy. There are also strong claims that fecal waste from
UN troops deposited in a river spread cholera bacteria in Haiti which
killed more than 6,000 Haitians and infected more than 400,000.

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There are older accusations of Italian and Dutch UN soldiers having
sex with young prostitutes in Eritrea, some of whom were 10-11 years
old. Reports from 2006 mention sexual abuse of girls as young as 13
by UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2007, the
Daily Telegraph reported on UN peacekeepers and staff abusing
children in southern Sudan. Other reports concerned sexual and other
abuse in Burundi, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

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A study by Cornell Law School stated, “The problem of sexual abuse
and sexual exploitation… has occurred among the military and civilian
personnel of a wide range of countries from all parts of the world.”

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There are pictures of a Belgian soldier from the UN Restore Hope
mission urinating on the face of a dead Somali. Another picture shows
Belgian soldiers roasting a living Somali over a fire. Canadian
soldiers killed three Somali teenagers, of whom at least one was
tortured. They also bound and beat others and made videotapes of
themselves boasting that they “ain’t killed enough niggers yet.”

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A Canadian general reacted by saying that “in stressful
circumstances, this should be accepted.” In 1997, 47 Canadian UN
troops serving in Bosnia were accused of “drunkenness, sex, black
marketeering and harassment of patients at the mental hospital they
were guarding.”

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Rwanda fiasco

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The NGO Save the Children UK revealed cases of abuse associated with
23 humanitarian peacekeeping and security organizations. These
include civil humanitarian agencies such as those delivering food and
nutritional assistance, care, education and health services,
reconstruction, shelter, training, and livelihood support, as well as
military actors providing peace and security services.

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Yet this small selection of crimes pales when compared to the role of
the United Nations and its peacekeeping forces in the genocides in
Rwanda in 1993 and Bosnia in 1995. Canadian General Romeo Dallaire,
Commander of the UN forces in Rwanda, saw the genocide coming and
contacted his UN superiors months before the murders. His requests to
undertake deterrent actions were turned down seven times. When the
mass murders started, the UN cut its force in Rwanda from 2,600 to
450.

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When the Bosnian Serbs conquered Srebrenica, a town which the UN had
guaranteed safe haven status, Dutch peacekeepers fled upon
instructions of their government. This after they helped separate the
Muslim men and boys from the women. An estimated 6,000-8,000 Muslims
were killed by the Bosnian Serbs.

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To make matters worse, the UN itself cannot be prosecuted for the
disasters it has played a role in. This was confirmed by a recent
judgment of the Dutch Supreme Court. The UN people who made the
decisions which facilitated the Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides are
far more senior than Colonel Eisner will ever be.
If one were to include in the list of abuses, besides those by UN
Peacekeepers, those of Western armies, they would fill a few books.
The Eisner Affair would not even merit a footnote.